Sketches of the Christian life and public labors of William Miller : $b Gathered from his memoir by the late Sylvester Bliss, and from other sources — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Sketches of the Christian life and public labors of William Miller : $b Gathered from his memoir by the late Sylvester Bliss, and from other sources
John Stuart Mill · en
“‘Another kind of evidence that vitally affected my mind was the
chronology of the Scriptures. I found, on pursuing the study of
the Bible, various chronological periods extending, according
to my understanding of them, to the coming of the Saviour. I
found that predicted events, which had been fulfilled in the
past, often occurred within a _given time_. The one hundred
and twenty years to the flood; Gen. 6:3; the seven days that
were to precede it, with forty days of predicted rain; Gen.
7:4; the four hundred years of sojourn of Abraham’s seed; Gen.
15:13; the three days of the butler’s and baker’s dreams; Gen.
40:12-20; the seven years of Pharaoh’s; Gen. 41:28-54; the
forty years in the wilderness; Num. 14:34; the three and a half
years of famine: 1 Kings 17:1; the sixty-five years to the
breaking of Ephraim; Isa. 7:8; the seventy years’ captivity;
Jer. 25:11; Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times; Dan. 4:13-16; and
the seven weeks, three-score and two weeks, and the one week,
making seventy weeks, determined upon the Jews; Dan. 9:24-27;
the events limited by these times were all once only a matter
of prophecy, and were fulfilled in accordance with the
predictions.
“‘When, therefore, I found the 2300 prophetic days, which were
to mark the length of the vision from the Persian to the end
of the fourth kingdom, the seven times’ continuance of the
dispersion of God’s people, and the 1335 prophetic days to
the standing of Daniel in his lot, all evidently extending
to the advent,[14] with other prophetical periods, I could
but regard them as ‘the times before appointed,’ which God
had revealed ‘unto his servants the prophets.’ As I was fully
convinced that ‘all Scripture given by inspiration of God is
profitable,’—that it came not at any time by the will of man,
but was written as holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost, and
was written for our learning, that we, through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope,—I could but regard
the chronological portions of the Bible as being as much a
portion of the word of God, and as much entitled to our serious
consideration, as any other portion of the Scriptures.